1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to the production of granules based on titanium, zirconium or cerium oxides and to such granules, per se.
2. Description of the Prior Art
Materials based on the aforementioned metallic oxides are known to this art to be useful for a number of applications.
As best as can be determined, certain of these materials do not exist in the form of granules or pellets. It is known, however, that the powder forms thereof are not satisfactory. Indeed, handling of such powders is difficult, in particular in light of the dust and fines they generate.
As regards the materials which in fact exist in the form of granules or pellets, such materials have to be improved in one or more respects. Thus, this art continues to require less fragile particulates having a higher porosity and having mean grain sizes varying over a wide range. It would also be desirable to provide particulates possessing, for a given grain size, a narrow grain size distribution.
Furthermore, in certain cases the processes for the preparation of such materials in the form of granules or pellets require the use of atomizers.
These devices impose certain conditions on the suspensions to be atomized, particularly relative to their dry solids content, which may not exceed a certain maximum value. They also require considerable maintenance.
The atomizing processes also present the disadvantage of limiting the grain size distribution of the products obtained to a certain range.